Invasive Species in Hawai'i

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Invasive species

Non-native organism (plant, animal, pathogen) introduced to a new ecosystem that establishes free-living populations, spreads rapidly, and causes significant ecological, economic, or environmental harm

Examples of Invasive Species In Hawai'i

Small Indian Mongoose

Origin: South Asia; introduced in the late 1800s to control rats on sugar plantations.

Preys on native birds, eggs, and reptiles. It caused major declines and extinctions of ground-nesting native species and did not effectively control rats.

The significance of the issue

Hawai‘i’s native species are extremely vulnerable to invasive species because they evolved in an isolated space without many predators or competitors. This leads many native species to decrease in population. For example, the mongoose in Hawaiʻi was introduced to control rats, but instead it preyed on native ground-nesting birds and their eggs. And because the native birds never faced such land predators it caused their population to decrease rapdly.